~ A collection of case studies, tools, knowledge, experiences, and research outputs by Jose Falck-Zepeda, colleagues at IFPRI and the Program for Biosafety Systems (PBS), and developing/developed country partners; on the socio-economic assessments of genetically modified organisms and other technologies. Photograph is of Bt/RR maize in Isabela province, Northern Luzon, Philippines; a country with over 500,000 hectares of Bt/RR maize.

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Why do people believe scientifically untrue things? an article in Reason by Ronald Bailey

I first saw a reference to this interesting article by Ronald Bailey in the publication Reason in Derek Tribe’s site GMO Pundit a.k.a. Derek Tribe. The article by Ronald Bailey can be found here

As Bailey writes,those of use involved with science and policy research have a responsibility to continue producing objective knowledge for society’s use.

Texas A&M researcher Chris Ferguson gets it right on how scientists should respond to any efforts to moralize scientific findings. “Put simply, it may be best for scientists to remain committed to the production of objective information,” he writes. He adds, “Deciding how such information ‘should’ be used arguably strays into advocacy and becomes problematic.” Knowing that something is factually true does not necessarily tell us what to do about it. Ronald Bailey in Reason

About the main author

My name is Jose Falck-Zepeda. I am a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Any opinions herein are those of the author(s) posting in this blog and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of IFPRI, its partners, or collaborators. My email if you need to contact me is j.falck-zepeda@cgiar.org.

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